[ForHackernews]

I think AirBnb's strategy has worked out well for them for reasons completely unrelated to any of their technology choices. We're living in a time of cheap airfare, insanely inflated real estate in popular markets, and overburdened local governments unable to enforce regulations. That adds up to great success for Airbnb, regardless of what software runs their website.

[untog]

I think this is an underappreciated point. It's tempting to believe that every tech company succeeded because of the tech, but what if Airbnb succeeded because of aggressive advertising and incentives, financed by hundreds of millions of dollars in VC funding?

[ForHackernews]

I don't even think most of these supposed "tech" companies are actually tech companies: Uber is a cab company, Airbnb is a holiday lettings company, WeWork is a commercial real estate company. None of them makes their money by building and/or selling software.